Cargo Center opens on August 1, 2013 / Important component on the path to opening BER / SPRINT beginning to bear fruit / Relief for the cargo handling facilities at Tegel

An important step on the path to opening BER was taken today. The Cargo Center on the site of Berlin Brandenburg Airport was officially inaugurated. The first tenants including Qatar Airways’ freight sales (Air Logistics), the shipping company Müller & Partner, and the cargo handling firm WISAG Cargo Service Berlin-Brandenburg have already moved into their own offices in the building. The next step is the gradual relocation of the requisite authorities for freight handling (i.e. plant health control, veterinary border controls, and customs). From August 1, 2013, UPS and Fedex cargo handling and belly freight loading in Schönefeld will be performed via the BER Cargo Center. The Cargo Center is directly connected to the apron by way of a separate access control point.

“The opening of the Cargo Center clearly shows that fundamental parts of the airport have already been completed and are operational. It is therefore only logical that such areas be put into service. By doing so we are sending out an important signal to the region,” says Matthias Platzeck, Minister President of the State of Brandenburg and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg GmbH. “Our number one task is to complete Berlin Brandenburg Airport swiftly, bring it into service, and thus secure jobs and in particular create new ones. Despite all the difficulties in the past, BER is and remains an advantageous location, an economic driver, and the key infrastructure project of the region,” he adds.

“The capital region is developing into one of the most important air transport locations in Europe. Alone the doubling of passenger numbers to 25.3 million in the ten years from 2002 to 2012 is unparalleled on the Continent,” explains Klaus Wowereit, Governing Mayor of Berlin and Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg GmbH. “Air freight is also growing continuously. There is still considerable potential for further growth, particularly on long-haul routes. We therefore need BER more urgently than ever. By putting the Cargo Center into service, Hartmut Mehdorn and his staff are taking the first important step towards opening BER,” he adds.

“The opening of the Cargo Center in August is an essential component on the path to putting BER into service,” says Hartmut Mehdorn, CEO of Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg GmbH.

“It shows that our SPRINT fast-track agenda is beginning to bear fruit. When something is ready for operation, we put it into service. We are commencing initial airport activities at BER with the Cargo Center, and at the same time we are beginning to establish the basic infrastructure that is the prerequisite for successful passenger service. The Cargo Center also enables us to relieve the freight facilities at Tegel, which are currently working to the limits of their capacity. The overriding goal, however, is to put BER into operation successfully and promptly,” he explains.

“Today is an important milestone for Dietz AG. The Cargo Center at Berlin Brandenburg Airport is ready for operation,” says Dr Wolfgang Dietz, CEO at Dietz AG. “A modern air freight centre is an essential component of a successful airport concept and is a gateway to the world for the economy. A state-of-the-art property accommodating efficient processes is our contribution to the success of BER,” he explains.

Relief for the cargo handling facilities at Tegel

The opening of the Cargo Center at Berlin Brandenburg Airport will also help ease the air freight situation at Tegel. From September 2013 air freight can be trucked to BER for handling. Due to the rapid growth in freight in recent years, the cargo handling infrastructure at Tegel is reaching the limits of its capacity. The volume of cargo handled there has increased by 60 per cent since 2010, and it is not feasible to enlarge Tegel’s freight handling site any further.

Cargo Center at Berlin Brandenburg Airport

During an initial stage of development, an air freight centre for handling belly freight was built on an area of approximately 3.3 hectares. The freight building, situated in a central location on the airport premises, comprises 12,000 square metres of floorspace plus 7000 square metres of office space. It has a starting capacity of approx. 100,000 tonnes of freight per annum, and it has its own security-screened access to the apron and can be expanded by way of a modular concept. As a result of a Europe-wide invitation to tender, Dietz AG was granted a hereditary building right as an investor. The operator is ACC Air Cargo Center Berlin GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of Dietz AG.

Belly freight handling

The Cargo Center will assure belly freight handling operations specifically for long-haul flights at the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport once these flights have been relocated from Tegel to BER. The handling operations will then be performed by the two cargo handling companies WISAG Cargo Service Berlin-Brandenburg and Swissport Cargo Service. Alongside the areas that will accommodate the requisite authorities for freight handling (i.e. plant health control, veterinary border controls, and customs), the building also houses a refrigeration centre for handling 70 to 120 EURO pallets in two temperature zones. This concept ensures that speedy, secure, state-of-the-art handling operations for belly freight can be provided at Berlin Brandenburg Airport on competitive terms.

Belly freight on long-haul flights as a driving force for growth

Approximately 76,000 tonnes of air freight were handled at the existing cargo facilities at Tegel and Schönefeld in 2012. The continuing strong growth in belly freight on intercontinental routes in particular has contributed to this (plus ten per cent). Especially airberlin flights to Abu Dhabi, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and New York as well as Hainan Airlines flights to Beijing have effected a growth in volume so that today around half of the belly freight transported is done so on long-haul flights.

Growth trend continues

The positive growth in freight is continuing in 2013. In June 2013 there was an increase of 18 per cent compared to the same month the previous year; in the first half of 2013 there was an increase of 3.7 per cent. Alongside long-haul belly freight, the main growth was also as a result of express services flying to Berlin.